The global trend for the concentration of industrial production means that products have to be transported for ever increasing distances before reaching their consumers. With the increasing removal of trade barriers between countries and the decreasing cost of long distance shipping, products that were once considered too bulky and costly to transport over long distances are now routinely exported from other countries or even other continents to the consuming countries.
Most products are nowadays transported from their production site to a distribution center or supermarkets using the pallet/container system. A pallet is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion and that can be easily lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, or other jacking device, for example within a container which is then transported by ship, train or truck. Pallets loaded, sometimes called unit load, with goods can also be stacked on another, thus reducing the surface needed in the warehouse, if the nature of the products allows.
Corner posts are elongated piece of rigid material bent at an angle, usually 90°, which are sometimes used to protect the edges of unit loads from scratches or other impacts during transport. More elaborated corner posts system have been proposed for the protection of bulky and heavy objects such as furniture unit, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,587B1. U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,692 discloses an open-sided container apparatus including a cap member having an internal divider wall forming pockets for receiving corner posts having bottom endwalls for cushioning the corners of an appliance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,928 discloses a container for shipping household appliances such refrigerators, washers, dryers and the like comprising a top cap, a separate bottom support and four separate corner posts.
Sanitary pads, also called sanitary napkins, are usually sold to the consumers in a primary package comprising a certain amount of pads, usually between 8 and 20. This primary package is usually made of a plastic film. Primary packages are usually bundled at the production site in a secondary package, which usually comprises from 10 to 20 primary packages. Secondary packages are usually made of a corrugated fiberboard box. The interest of using a secondary package is multiple. For example, the secondary package allows the staff of a supermarket to more quickly and efficiently replenishes a shelf than what would otherwise be the case if individual packs of sanitary pads had to be carried from the warehouse to the shelf. Also, sanitary pads are relatively fragile and pressure sensitive, and need to be protected during transport from excess pressure, otherwise the primary packages and the sanitary pads contained therein may arrive in a crumbled state to the point of sale. A rigid secondary package protects the pressure sensitive primary package and their content from damage during transport and storage.
Until now, it has been standard practice to use a box made of corrugated fiberboard as secondary package for sanitary pads. One reason for using corrugated fiberboard boxes is that this type of package is relatively rigid (it will not deform under the usual load experienced during transport and storage) and thus can be used for palletizing. Corrugated boxes can easily support the weight of several other boxes, and if necessary the weight of another loaded pallet that may be stored on top of the first palletized unit.
The current package system for sanitary pad is not without inconvenients. First, the material used to make the corrugated fiberboard boxes is relatively bulky, and adds to transport and disposal costs for the manufacturer and the retailer. Second, opening the corrugated fiberboard boxes can be time consuming for the staff of a supermarket. Third, the corrugated fiberboard material used is sensitive to humidity, and its physical properties can be impacted by environmental conditions such as humidity. Fourth, corrugated fiberboard material may not be impervious to dust. Fifth, the price of fiberboard is increasing. It would therefore be desirable to find a transport system for sanitary pads and other absorbent hygiene articles that provide the same or better protection to the articles during transport as paperboard boxes, but at a lower costs and greater convenience for the staff handling these articles.